A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 598 The Unreachable Star

Since the destruction of the Tower of First Flame, there are no more great magic towers within the Empire's current controlled territory, namely the Kingdom of Marin and its surrounding areas.

There may still be wild mage towers in the mountains and hidden spaces, but as the emperor's "power outage" plan progresses, it is only a matter of time before they are exposed and clash with the empire.

The Magic Guild has withdrawn from the heart of the Empire. Now they seem poised to return in a different guise—as maintainers of the anti-magic devices.

The Empire's team alone could not fill the gap in the required number of engineers, so Baditz also brought in an outsourcing service company from Valois, which not only ensured the supply of transmutation dust, but also provided some technical and operational support.

The branch offices that were solemnly established within the empire were nothing more than empty shells, but they were powerful enough to recruit on the spot with money and fill up their ranks overnight. Each of them was a skilled person who could write, calculate, and know magic, making it hard not to wonder what kind of work the master did before.

I never knew there were so many "distinguished figures in the public eye" in my own country.

His Majesty Emperor William rested his head on one hand on his throne, deep in thought. Was it the empire's talent selection system that was ineffective, or were foreign companies law-abiding and offering high benefits? In the end, he simply gave up and chose to turn a blind eye, no longer caring about the shady dealings involved.

During this time, he also suspected that the representative of the "Rationality Above All" society was a spy. It was only after several banquets and conversations that he confirmed that the lovely Mr. Baditz genuinely believed that he was undermining the foundation of the guild and all the mages. He had devoted himself wholeheartedly to the cause he believed in and had not noticed the diversity of the society's members at all.

After bestowing upon Mr. Baditz the honorary title of Imperial Baron, the Emperor bid farewell to the idiot. He rubbed his eyes wearily and, feigning ease, joked with his courtiers, "These past few days have been nothing but meetings with barons, one fake and one real."

"Your Majesty, who do you think is behind Mr. Baditz?"

"The Valuwana Council? Or the Magic Guild? Who knows?" The Emperor summoned a maid to clear away the banquet, and he and his courtiers strolled to the window of the banquet hall. "The Republic has reason to do this, because in their view, the Alliance is now a greater threat than us. That's true, and perhaps we can continue to extort something from them in the future. They and the Istany both hope that we can maintain a balance of power with the rebels."

"The guild. It must be their doing now, but that big fool is still completely unaware, thinking it's his own achievement. The guild may have already been infiltrated by all sides." The emperor just found it funny that those bastard spellcasters even went so far as to find such gloves to sneak back into the empire, were they trying to humiliate him?

"Then, Your Majesty, I can do it at your command."

"What can you do? Never mind, anything that helps the plan, we'll take it all," the emperor set the tone. After discussing these matters, he looked up at the sky.

Just then, a celestial ladder ring flew overhead along its orbit, and a little while later, it would pass near Prag. It was likely a low-level ring close to the ground, no more than ten thousand meters high. Against the backdrop of the moon, the Emperor saw a very small but clear silhouette of a black ring. Soon, the black silhouette changed from a solid line to a dashed line, as the attitude-maintaining engines and magical circuits on the ring flickered.

The courtiers noticed where Wilhelm II's gaze was directed. He was old and his eyesight was not as good as the emperor's, so it took him some effort to spot the ring.

Based on experience and the emperor's past attitudes, the court officials expressed their opinion: "Strange skills and frivolous crafts."

But the emperor continued to stare at it. As the ring swept past the moon, it transformed into eight relatively fixed stars against the deep blue sky. The eight stars and the emperor gazed at each other in silence, their light, along with the faint glow of other celestial bodies and the moon's reflected light, illuminating the magnificent buildings of the capital.

To the Empire, an artificial star at an altitude of 10,000 meters is no different from any other celestial body; they are all unattainable.

William ignored the courtiers' words, staring at them for a long time before saying to himself, "They are leaving the land."

"Yes, Your Majesty, those cowards have been intimidated by the followers of the evil god and are even willing to abandon their own homes."

"The new 'Sky Ladder' has a total of five ring levels and can open a portal with a diameter of 40 meters, which is twice the size of the previous version and four times the area. Ships that pass through it can directly access the astral plane and travel to other planes on a large scale."

The courtier was startled, not expecting His Majesty to have such knowledge of the creations made by the sorcerers. Had he misinterpreted the meaning of his earlier remarks?

"If we stay, will we be swallowed up by the apocalypse? Is the anti-magic device really reliable?" William pressed his newly grown left arm, unease and fear gripping his heart.

However, there was no turning back at this point.

He gathered his thoughts and assessed the current situation: "The Empire and the rebels are separated. The southern states each have their own agendas, which we need to win over and appease. The Imperial Diet must continue to convene, focusing on reaching an agreement with them on trade and exchanges."

"Valuva may covet the areas bordering it, especially the ones with mineral deposits. We can continue negotiating with the Republic, whose situation is, as far as I know, dire, and they may not be able to continue taking a hard line."

"Between the Allies and us, in the central region of the Empire, the corruption of the Mother Goddess occurs from time to time, severely entangled in both the rebels and our army, and has now become our buffer zone."

"Domestic... you people are quite honest and capable," William said, turning to look at the courtiers.

The praised minister immediately lowered his head: "With Your Majesty's wise leadership, I will certainly do my best."

If William had just ascended the throne, he would certainly have been delighted by such praise, but now he was immune to it. The emperor had come to realize that his authority, derived from the legacy of his predecessor and from the terror inflicted through Gregory and the Order, was becoming increasingly diluted.

Another problem is that "the expansion of the Death Magic Zone will inevitably cause discontent among the mages within its borders. Currently, the Empire's spellcasters are concentrated in the army, but this is only a temporary solution."

"Your Majesty, why not gather those mages together and designate a special area for them, where it won't be covered by the device? Right now, there are frequent activities of cultists in the northern part of our country, in the area bordering the dwarves. Why not allocate that harsh, cold land to the spellcasters and let them do whatever they want?"

"Hmm, I still need someone to keep them in check." The emperor thought of someone and once again looked up at the starry sky and murmured to himself, "Richard, you are a loyal subject, but I can't tell what you are truly loyal to."

Richard was also considering this issue. He was currently personally sending Franz back to Rorschach.

(End of this chapter)